hot guy’s kid and she’s a princess in an alternate universe!”
Then she tipped her head down and launched herself at me, bursting into tears, holding me tight and rocking me violently from side to side.
I heard Tor close the door about half a second before I also wrapped my arms around her, burst into tears but mine were relieved as well as joyous.
We rocked back and forth crying for awhile then she reared back, grabbed my forearms, shook them, her eyes darting to Tor and back to me before she shouted, “Look at him! He’s tall, hot, those scars are way hot, I’ve never seen any man wear pajama bottoms that well and he has just the right amount of chest hair! Girl, you did all right.”
See! There was a reason Phoebe and I were BFFs.
“Girl, I know!” I shouted back.
“Sweets,” Tor murmured from behind me and I felt his hand warm on the small of my back before I twisted my neck to look up at him, “you may wish to calm down and rejoice far more quietly.”
“Sweets,” Phoebe whispered reverently, “hot.”
I smiled at Phoebe’s words but my eyes didn’t leave Tor’s face and I saw his eyes smile back before I said to him, “Right. That would probably be prudent.”
“Right,” he replied, leaned in and touched his mouth to mine.
“Hot,” Phoebe breathed and, incidentally, didn’t let go of my arms.
Tor pulled back, his eyes slid to Phoebe and back to me before he muttered, “I shall get dressed.”
Phoebe finally stepped away from me and as she did so, she stated, “Please, if you’re doing that on my account, I’m totally cool with you exactly the way you are.”
Tor looked at her then he looked at me then his mouth twitched, he shook his head, made no response and strode to my bedroom.
Phoebe and I watched.
Then I heard Phoebe repeat a breathless, “Hot.”
I looked at her to see she was looking at me.
Then, as often happened, sometimes for no reason whatsoever, we both dissolved into giggles.
And our giggles went uncontrolled when we both heard muttered from my bedroom, “Bloody hell.”
In fact, at that, we collapsed into each other’s arms and roared with them.
So much for being quiet.
I made my prince and my best friend blueberry pancakes and bacon and we went overkill by following this with red velvet cake.
But, whatever, it was time to celebrate. I was in love with a hot guy prince and future king, pregnant with his child and I still had my best friend. If that didn’t say celebration, nothing did.
And furthermore, if there was a time I could overeat, now was it.
While Tor showered, I filled Phoebe in on more detail about Tor and she breathed the word “hot” or drawled the word “nice” about seven thousand times while I was doing it.
Then, while I cooked and we ate (standing up in the kitchen with our plates close to our mouths, something else that made Tor’s lips twitch), I filled Phoebe in with more detail on everything else.
Then we retired to the living room.
Tor was dressed in jeans and a cool, light blue shirt he didn’t tuck in, I was wearing my nightie with my short robe tied over it and we were sipping after breakfast, after cake coffee.
Phoebe was curled in my armchair. And I was tucked tight to Tor’s side on the couch, the soles of my feet to the cushion, my legs having fallen into his thigh; his arm was curled around me holding me close when it occurred to me.
And what occurred to me was that my best friend was definitely crazy, a certifiable nut, but, even so, she’d bought our equally definitely crazy story really easily.
And that was weird.
“Uh… Phoebe,” I called when she’d taken a break from updating me on her life (doing so at the same time educating Tor to the fact she was definitely crazy and a certifiable nut) and was sipping from her cup.
“Yeah, babe,” she replied.
“Not to look a gift horse in the mouth because I’m glad you believe our story but why do you believe our story? I mean, when we told him, Dad freaked as in totally freaked. He accused Tor of being the leader of a cult and tried to kick him out of the house. You didn’t even blink.”
Well, she did blink, repeatedly, but she didn’t freak.
She grinned at the cult comment then threw out a hand and, as if she was not rocking Tor and my worlds, she blithely said, “Because Brianna’s friend Marlene’s friend Circe lives in an alternate universe.”
This time I blinked and I also felt my mouth drop open.
Tor’s body went solid at my side.
“What?” I whispered.
“Pardon?” Tor growled.
She studied us, eyes going back and forth.
Then she repeated, “Because Brianna’s friend Marlene’s friend Circe lives in an alternate universe.”
Tor leaned forward and since his arm didn’t move from around me, he took me with him.
“Explain,” he ordered, his voice low and commanding.
Phoebe’s eyes didn’t move from him as she whispered, “Well, I mean, I don’t know Circe and I’ve only met Marlene once at a party. But everyone in that circle knows Circe went to bed one night and another Circe was there the next day and the here Circe was gone. The here Circe also came back home so for awhile there were two Circes then the here Circe went back there. She’s there now, as far as I know.” She tore her gaze from Tor and looked at me. “She was also knocked up when she got back, by the way.”
I stared at my friend.
“More,” Tor demanded, his tone not having changed and Phoebe’s eyes shot back to him.
“I… well…” She sucked in breath then she looked at me and went on, “I don’t know the whole story and from what you said while you were making breakfast, Cora, it seems her other world is different. Maybe it’s another one. I mean, birds don’t talk to her, I don’t think. The air didn’t glitter either. Definitely. From what I heard, it was primitive, savage even. The place she went to was barren with rocks and stuff, they lived in tents and a lot went down when she was there, like, serious stuff and when I say that I mean, like, NC-17 rated stuff. She’s a queen, though, married to the king of what I think Marlene called a horde.”
“Korwahk,” Tor whispered.
I looked to him and asked, “What?”
He sat back (again taking me with him) and turned to me. “She describes Korwahk.”
“That sounds familiar,” Phoebe put in and we looked at her. “She’s, like, the Golden Queen?” she asked as if we could confirm then she shook her head and muttered, “I don’t know, something like that.”
“The Golden Warrior Queen of The Golden Dynasty,” Tor stated and I looked back to him to see he was looking at Phoebe. “Is she fair with golden eyes?” he asked.
“I don’t know about her eyes but yes, I think she’s blonde,” Phoebe answered.
“Honey?” I prompted Tor and his eyes came to me.
“It was reported through diplomatic dispatches while you were with me in our other world that Dax Lahn, the king of Korwahk, they are known as Dax in their language, has finally claimed his queen. She is known as the Golden Warrior Queen and it is said he’s also claimed their union begins The Golden Dynasty.”
Wow. That sounded cool.
“That sounds cool,” I said quietly but a strange flash in his eyes made me think it was anything but cool so I asked, “What?”
“It is nothing,” he muttered, turning his attention to his coffee cup and therefore I knew he was also totally lying.
So I repeated, “What?”
He took a sip and his eyes came to me. “It is nothing, my love.”
But his eyes were troubled.
